I think I can feel just a hint of Autumn in the air.  Then again it could just be the fact that we are now down into the 80s instead of the 100s.  I love a cool sea breeze!  I know for most people, strawberries show the ending of spring and the beginning of summer.  In San Diego, those great strawberry sales at the store also scream, “Autumn!”  Last years attempts at jam have given me the courage to keep freezer jam as a bi-yearly tradition.  Maybe one of these days I will work up the guts to try some serious canning.  Until then I think I’ll make my jam and eat it too.

I believe this post is so my children will understand if I end up prematurely grey.  I woke up this morning to hear Hudson loudly whispering to Annie, “You better not let mom see that or you will be in big trouble.”
Now those are words a mother loves to hear. Of course I begin wracking my brain trying to figure out what could possible trigger a comment like that in a 4 year old. Turning the corner to the kitchen I have the visual.  Annie had a Skippy peanut butter jar full of a dozen eggs she cracked into it…shells and all.   She had good aim so I am thankful for the lack of mess!
In her defense, I recently boiled eggs and my kids have been huge fans. I labeled the cartons, but then again she’s not quite reading yet. My guess: she planned on cracking until she found one she could eat.  I guess I’m going to have to find a cute basket or bowl that can go in the fridge as the designated, “Boiled Egg Bowl.”

Our Enrichment group did some cute towels awhile back.  I missed the night so all the ingredients for this little project have stayed at the top of the closet until I could get my hands on a sewing machine.  Well the sock monkey must have given me some sort of confidence or perhaps bestowed some craziness because I decided to handstitch these guys up.  I guess you can call it getting in touch with my pioneer heritage.  Happy Birthday, Mom!

Labor Day found me pining for the beach this year.  Will was kind enough to remind me of the craziness that would most likely ensue if we even attempted to go to any place with gatherings of people.  My list very quickly shortened.  Beach? No.  Sea World?  Definitely not!  Zoo? Um…no.  Wild Animal Park?  No!  At this point, we decided that being together as a family was the important item in the checklist, not our location.

We spent the weekend, with it’s crazy hot weather, in the little swimming pool in the back.  The kids loved it.  We played a random array of games spanning from hide ‘n go seek and tag to Don’t Eat Pete and Penny, Penny.  All in all, I deem the weekend a success.  Thanks goes to Will for snapping this shot while I was lazily enjoying my patio furniture.

I pulled a pair of pink stripped socks out of my drawer yesterday as I was trying to declutter my house. This was the conversation I had with myself:  I really like these stripped socks.   But you only wear them once a year on Valentine’s Day so you really could do without them.   Is there a way I could keep my socks, but not use them as socks?  Sock Monkey!!

There you have it.  Another random birdwalk of the brain that happened to end in a sock monkey today.